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4 clues about teamwork by solving a murder mystery

What makes a good team? Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are a famous pairing. Our Shared Services team recently cloaked up for a team bonding activity at Escape Hunt in Melbourne. While being locked in a dark room for an hour surrounded by beer doesn’t sound too bad for some, we needed all our powers of deduction (and a few phone-a-friends) to unravel this puzzle. Despite being physically challenging for one 6’4 individual, we had a lot of fun and solved a few mysteries about teamwork in the process.

OUR PUZZLE: A brew master has been murdered. The motive – stealing a secret beer recipe. Our mission – solve the crime, locate the recipe and bring the perpetrator to justice. (Spoiler alert: this article may contain clues.)

It is better to get help when you need it – Some people always seek help, others try to nut it out alone. Asking for help is really worthwhile when you can’t otherwise figure it out; knowing when to ask is the key. While it would defeat the purpose of the game if we were given too many clues, wasting time over every impasse is counterproductive.

Teamwork is as important as individual work – Our combined efforts allowed us to progress to the next steps, and we were rewarded with more challenging clues. We found some clues individually, presented them to the team and brainstormed our ideas further.

Don’t be afraid to ask a ‘dumb’ question – I should have spoken up but instead I thought I had a ‘dumb’ question. In the last room of our murder mystery puzzle, I saw a torch on the table and was wondering why it looked a little different from the standard ones we were given. Fearing that I would be asking a dumb question, I kept quiet. Our team was unable to figure out by ourselves that it was a UV torch to illuminate hidden clues. Yes, I should have asked that seemingly ‘dumb’ question.

Sometimes we overcomplicate things unnecessarily – Often the solution is obvious. Our team was stuck in the last room of the final stage of the game for ages. I could feel the atmosphere amongst the group changing. We were all getting frustrated, uncomfortably cramped into a claustrophobic room. With just two combination locks to go, we spent ages trying to multiply, add, subtract and rearrange six digits that were simply a linear code.

Holmes said, “Give me problems, give me work.” What have you learned about your work style through a team bonding activity?